What a strange July Fourth it made for... but then again, that's probably just as the North Koreans wanted it. I'm guessing the dynamic went pretty much the way it did at the gathering my family attended yesterday: friends and neighbors eating the food hot off the grill while shaking their heads at word of a strange and failed missile launch halfway across the world... on this nation's birthday. And imagine the gathering of the Bush family yesterday: A few guests, close family friends, in the residence portion of the White House, to celebrate the president's 60th birthday. Nothing like a series of National Security briefings to cap off a relaxing night with pals.

Cut to: NBC Nightly News headquarters, this morning: It was while we were discussing our elaborate coverage plans for the North Korea story during our morning editorial conference call... that our Dallas bureau chief mentioned that our local NBC Stations in Texas were chasing down a "rumor that Ken Lay has died." He had. That was a meeting-stopper. As the CNBC on-screen graphic just put it: an unexpected ending. And as a result: an unexpected story lineup in tonight's broadcast.

We'll have the whole team devoted to the Korea story tonight: from Miklaszewski to O'Donnell to Aspell to Mitchell. We'll also take a look at the man they call "Dear Leader" and his surprising personal life and possible motivations.

Because of headline stories about a link between hair dye and cancer in some morning papers, we'll have Robert Bazell take on that topic tonight. We'll also look at how immigration has come back as an issue in Washington (it never went away as an issue along our borders). There's also economic news out there today.

I'm off to begin the process, with my colleagues, of turning it all into understandable English... or at least trying to. We all hope you can join us tonight.

An update to my earlier post... legal experts -- none of them directly involved in the Ken Lay case -- believe his death ends both his prosecution and the government's attempt to get money from his estate. 

As a technical matter, a person is not convicted until sentence is pronounced. So Lay's death will result in an abandonment of the criminal case against him. Once the proper motions are filed, it will vanish from the books as though it never existed, as far as his guilt is concerned.

There is the separate question of the $43 million in fines the government wants from Lay, which could be levied against his estate now that he has died. It was once the law in the federal courts in Texas that a distinction was made between fines intended to punish, which were abandoned after a defendant's death, and fines intended to compensate victims, which could be pursued ever after death. But in 2004, the federal circuit which includes Texas changed the law, ending the distinction between the two kinds of fines.

It cannot be said for certain that Lay's death will make it impossible for the government to try to get the $43 million it wants from Lay's estate. But several prosecutors and white collar lawyers say it very likely now won't happen.

One thing to note: In its filing last Friday, seeking over $180 million from both Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the government said both were liable for the fines. So this could mean the government will now try to get the entire amount out of Skilling.

The Justice Department will not be taking any immediate steps in light of Ken Lay's death.

In normal court procedure, it's the duty of the lawyer for a party who dies to formally notify the court. So the government will likely not take any action until Lay's lawyers file a formal notice informing the judge of Lay's death. Lay was due to be sentenced on Oct. 23. 

While Lay's death ends part of the criminal case against him, there are a couple of issues to resolve. First, the government has filed a motion seeking at least $43 million in Lay's assets. Prosecutors claim he illegally benefited from a line of credit he used at Enron. They also seek money he received in bonuses. So the government must decide whether to continue to seek forfeiture of those assets from Lay's estate.

Second, there's the question of what Lay's death will mean to further proceedings against former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling. His lawyers might seek to delay sentencing in light of Lay's death. 

They're an economic gold mine -- baby boomers who are about to retire by the millions. So where do they all go? We'll show you how one Mississippi town is pulling out all the stops to get them to move there.

Maybe it's because it's the Fourth of July. Maybe it's because it's been awhile since we've seen a shuttle launch.  Probably it's because we in America have heard so much bad news of late.  Whatever the reason, it was thrilling to watch Discovery's successful rise into the heavens, accelerating from 0 to more than 17,000 miles-an-hour in just eight-and-a-half seconds this afternoon.

Nerves of steel is what it must have taken for the seven astronauts to endure such a ride, not just because of the roar, but because of the incessant debate about whether foam would jeopardize the safety of their flight. Two top NASA officials had voted "no go" for launch, and that was before a small triangular piece of foam fell off one of the brackets holding the external fuel tank.

Preparing for the NBC News Special Report to show America the historic launch, the first on Independence day, I read a quote from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin that may give pause. On Friday, he said, "We are playing with the odds." He said balancing the dangers of another accident with the pressure to keep to a schedule that could shut down the shuttle program in 2010 is "What you pay us for as taxpayers. It's called risk management."

Taking this risk in these trouble times, on this day we celebrate our nation's birth, took both confidence and courage. But then, I suppose without the risk, maybe it would not have felt as good today, to watch America soar.

We'll introduce you to a group of kids who are sending more than just care packages to our soldiers. They're also sending hope and encouragement. Join us on this Independence Day for a heartwarming story from "The Homefront."

In my report tonight, we tell the amazing story of Terry Wallis of Mountain View, Ark., a man who had been unconscious for 19 years following a severe head injury until he awoke suddenly and unexpectedly in 2003.  Although he remains severely disabled, he has continued to improve -- especially under a rigorous physical therapy program with his daughter Amber who was six weeks old when he lapsed into a coma and whom he still does not remember as his child.

The reason we recount these details tonight is that Dr. Nicholas Schiff and his colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical College have a paper out Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on brain scans of Terry Wallis. They seem to show that since he awoke, Wallis'  brain has been developing new connections. These seem to account for his continuing improvement, and the doctors speculate that this ability in his brain to make the new connections could have explained his recovery of consciousness.

So what does this mean for other people lying unconscious for months -- even years -- after brain injury?  Sadly at the moment, it says nothing. This is a report of just one case. So why do the doctors go to so much trouble to study it and why do we report it? 

Aside from the inherent interest of the story, there is a long tradition of "case reports" in medicine. These do not offer proof, they only describe. Often, curious doctors encountering an unusual case will write it up for a medical journal. These reports have several purposes. They suggest research leads, and academic physicians often use the reports to teach medical students.

The report about Terry Wallis could someday open new avenues of research in how the brain fights to heal itself after injury. It could lead to ways to better treatments. But for now, it is just a case report, a profoundly interesting story.

Going over the day's top stories, as we prepare to broadcast NBC Nightly News tonight, I am struck by what they say about the best and worst of these times in our nation's history.

One is about the possibility of a Fourth of July launch of the space shuttle Discovery. Call me hokey, but I can imagine Americans feeling pretty good about watching a successful shuttle launch again -- that soaring rise into the heavens reminding us of the greatness among us, and how far we've come since Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, and how far we might still go.

Even with today's sobering news that inspectors have found a five-inch-long crack in the foam insulation on the external fuel tank, and that scientists are weighing the risks of launch, as I write this, you get the sense in their descriptions about the science of foam insulation and their debate about whether to fly, that the men and women of NASA, are trying to uphold the standards of the best and the brightest before them.

On this same day, we saw the first images of a former U.S. soldier accused of raping and murdering of a young Iraqi woman, and gunning down her family, including a 5-year-old child, before burning their bodies. In part because this soldier, Steven Green, has already been discharged by the Army, federal prosecutors were brought in to file the charges. Our Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski tells me what he found remarkable is how quickly the federal governement filed charges, given that the military just found out about the incident a week from last Friday. They clearly wanted to get this guy into custody.

Both sides, Jim says, were extremely careful not to release details about Green, which made it difficult to report the story. But with the usual "hammering away" to get sources to talk, Jim has been able to get the story out.

The really scary part of this: Jim reported that the military only found out about these murders while helping soldiers in Green's unit deal with combat stress after the recent slayings of two soldiers in that same unit. Those soldiers you might remember, were kidnapped, tortured and beheaded.

At least one member of the platoon, stirred by feelings of guilt, talked. Investigators learned from at least two soldiers that the rape may have been premeditated -- that before it happened, "They were sitting around at a checkpoint, talking about raping the woman."

I asked Jim, what that says about how many other crimes in Iraq may go unreported. He said, the feeling at the Pentagon, is that there are "more cases just waiting to be uncovered."

A court will decide the truth in this, but at this moment, this too is a reminder. To be the best, America must still stand up to the worst imaginable.

Before you spend too many days at the beach this summer, you might want to know just how polluted America's beaches are, and what's being done to make them better. We'll tell you tonight, on Nightly News.

Laura Maloney and one of the pups she rescued after Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Steve Majors

They are the lost victims of Katrina -- dogs, cats and even birds who had no shelter from the storm. Ten months later, they are still being found on the streets of New Orleans -- some are filthy, emaciated, and starved for human contact. The woman whose staff and volunteers have rescued thousands of them is Laura Maloney. I met her recently while researching a different story on custody disputes over pets. She informed me, though, that there's a much bigger story to be told about the fate of pets and their owners since Katrina.

Maloney is considered to be one of the heroes of Katrina. According to historian Doug Brinkley's book, "The Great Deluge," she carried out a complicated plan to tag, cage and safely transport hundreds of shelter pets to Houston just hours before the storm. Brinkley wonders why a city with many more resources failed to do the same for its sickest, oldest and poorest residents. Today, Maloney shrugs off that comparison. She only knows she had a responsibilty to save her animals. And she did.

Her focus now is on helping traumatized pets find new homes. But she and her staff spend just as much time counseling and consoling pet owners who come to the shelter. Many struggle with sadness and guilt after losing their pets in the storm. Maloney's job is to connect grieving humans with grieving pets. The new bond eases the pain for both. But there is still more work for her.

Thousands of animals drowned, starved or died of disease in the days after the storm. In the rush to evacuate and then save stranded citizens, they were left behind. Maloney estimates that with the help of groups from across the country, she rescued 8,500 pets from the floodwaters. But Maloney says many more could have been saved, if only their owners had made plans. And so that is why she is already preparing for the next storm, should it come.

In the past few months she's helped lobby for the passage of a statewide pet evacuation bill. And she's educating residents about how they can find safe shelters for their cats and dogs. Maloney hopes that next time, she's not characterized as the one-woman saviour of cats and dogs. She'd prefer every owner to be a hero and save their own.

As she cuddled in her arms a post-Katrina puppy, born in the streets of New Orleans, she told me the story of another Katrina dog named Lassie. Lassie was being fostered in a home in Maryland after the hurricane. A few month's ago, Lassie's owner came forward and the reunion finally occurred last week in a scene worthy of a Technicolor classic. Lassie came home. Maloney says it was an emotional moment for everyone.

She hopes the other orphaned pets in her care get the same kind of homecoming. But for now, she'll watch over her Noah's Ark of animals with the knowledge that they at least will always have shelter from a storm.

To learn more or find ways that you can help, visit www.la-spca.org.